16 Jun 2024

Ministry of Education and Skills Development intends to continue involving the industry to enhance the role of Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) in value chain development to drive industry transformation and supporting new entrants.

This was said by Minister, Dr Douglas Letsholathebe during the opening ceremony of Botswana-Germany TVET Symposium in Gaborone on Thursday.

Dr Letsholathebe indicated that the ministry would roll out 12 new TVET learning programmes of the new curricula in August.

“This is in recognition that TVET plays a critical role in value chain development as it focuses on skills development, that is, supply of skilled workers in priority sectors such as agriculture, food processing, construction, mining, 4IR, creative industry and manufacturing among others,” he said.

Dr Letsholathebe said that the Human Resource Development Council (HRDC) report on top occupations of 2023 identified renewable energy as one of the priority skills for the Mining, Energy and Water Resources sector, and that to align to that, his ministry took a decision to embark on equipping communities with installation and maintenance skills for solar energy.

“This will empower them to diversify their socio-economic life as per the National Energy Policy Implementation Strategy that advocates for extensive use of solar energy,” he said.

He also said that Madirelo Training and Testing Centre (MTTC), which he said played a crucial role in the TVET sub-sector was now fully registered and accredited with Botswana Qualification Authority as an awarding body.

The minister said that this would help curb the rate at which Botswana was importing essential artisan skills and that the centre would couple other centres like the Construction Industry Trust Fund (CITF).

Dr Letsholathebe said that the country should ensure that TVET and industry worked closely together, to ensure efficient supply of skilled human resource locally, and that TVET was also responsive to the needs of stakeholders, especially the labour market needs.

“Practical skills are crucial therefore TVET must connect theory with real-life applications and I also encourage industry to be involved in curriculum design and development, internship, apprenticeship and, as well as employment of our TVET products,” he said.

He said that this would also help graduates to reap mutual benefits from the collaboration, and ensure that the industry also gained access to skilled workers who can contribute to economic growth.

Dr Letsholathebe also said that his ministry would soon have more engagements with different stakeholders to seek to transform TVET. Ends